“It is over there, your Highness, the rundown freighter. They should start loading the slaves any moment now.”

Her face an unreadable mask of noble superiority, Princess Anita Dracon looked across the landing field to where her aide had pointed.It usually wasn’t her style to appear anywhere near the industrial spaceports of Yaiciz, her home world. But she was here to see a very special passenger off, special enough to warrant her appearance in a dismal place such as the roof of the warehouse building she was currently standing on.

“I like the setup you have chosen,” Anita stated coolly. “Close enough that he is bound to see me, and yet just far away so he has no hope of reaching me.”

“Your pleasure honors me beyond words, your Highness.”

Instead of an answer, she only looked at the man, merely raising a disdainful eyebrow. At barely seventeen years of age, Princess Anita had already mastered the art of the wordless put-down. Next to her, the aide seemed to shrink and shrivel until he bowed deeply and backed away, realizing that his service here was no longer needed nor welcome.

No one stayed around Lady Anita when no longer welcome - everyone left either voluntarily or permanently.

Down on the landing field, only a few hundred yards from her vantage point, a truck stopped next to the indicated freighter. It was carrying a large cage, filled with half-clad slaves packed so tightly they couldn’t even fall down. Within moments, several men walked out of the freighter, whips and frapsticks ready, and started to unload the mostly human cargo.

Trying to get a better view and at the same time hoping to make herself more visible, Anita walked up to the ledge of the roof. Her back ramrod straight, her long black hair flowing in the wind behind her, she was an unmistakably Dracon beauty. And even if her glistening black leathers hadn’t given that away already, the pale, naked pet she was pulling on a leash behind her would have.

“Don’t you dare telling me you’re afraid of heights,” she hissed at the young woman who had followed her on all fours when she hesitated a few feet away from the ledge. Standing right at the edge, with her toes already in the open air, it was obvious Anita didn’t share such sentimentalities as fear of heights.

“There’s nothing for you to fear anywhere,” she continued, cold as the night. “Nothing to fear but me.”

Anita yanked at the chain, just a tiny, imperious gesture, but the slave meekly crawled up right next to her.

“Good girl,” Anita purred, patting the slave girl on her head.

For a moment, the princess stood motionless in the cool breeze, the naked pet kneeling wordlessly next to her. She was sure she presented a formidable image to the poor sods that were currently loaded into the freighter down below. Beautiful, powerful, and utterly untouchable by their petty little lives.

“Oh look,” Anita said as her special passenger finally came into view. “See that slave down there? The tall one, with the sides of his head shaved as if he were a warrior of some sort? The one with that thick black collar?”

The slave girl needed a moment to understand that she was actually expected to look. Then, frightened, she stared at the prisoners down below until she spotted the one her mistress had been talking about. Wordlessly, she nodded, eagerly waiting for more explanations.

“That waste of genetic material is my alleged brother Ivan.” Anita explained smugly. “I sold him. As a pet. Just like you.”

The eager expression in her pet’s face congealed to barely veiled fear, causing Anita to break into loud laughter.

“Goodness, you’re so sweet when you’re afraid of me.” Not too gently, she patted her slave again, then she turned her attention back to the people on the landing field. “Of course, he was was a failure as a noble, and he continued being a failure as a slave. So dear Vanya was a miserable pet for a while, then he became a boring pet for a while, and then he had the silly idea to run away.”

Smiling in reminiscence, Lady Anita looked so inhuman in her cruel beauty that her pet involuntarily inched away from her.

“But instead of properly disappearing, he joined a band of misfits in the slums, trying to make a living as some kind of gang leader, little Vanya, can you imagine? Hilarious.” Anita’s breathing was calm and concentrated now, as if her monologue was merely happening on the surface of the machinations of her mind. “Of course, it wasn’t long before he was caught again. And what do we do with slaves too incompetent and to insolent to keep around? We send them to the mines...”

At the mention of the mines, the slave girl flinched. Stealing a glance, she looked up to the sky, where the only moon of Yaiciz was clearly visible. Bora Bora, the moon, was staring back at her with an evil eye glare, the giant microwave emitter placed on the moon’s equator glowing ominously red.

The girl had no idea why there were mines on Bora Bora, or what the hell you could mine wind for, but she knew that it was a place where slaves were sent to, never to return. In her limited world, it was the only place worse than her current life.

Right then, Princess Anita decided that she had had enough of gloating. Silently, she raised a slender hand, as if blowing a kiss to the slaves being loaded into the freighter. All of a sudden, the air around her glimmered with heat, tiny flames of unearthly colors dancing along her windswept hair that seemed to curl upward in the sudden shift of currents. Little glowing embers sparked into life in the air, drifting down onto the landing field, scorching the tarmac and the bare shoulders of the slave she had identified as her brother.

Instantly, Ivan snapped around and stared up to the roof where Anita was standing, waving in perfect, effortless elegance. His bellowing scream of anger and pain was loud enough to reach the two women on the roof.

Anita chuckled, a sound that made the slave girl think her blood was curdling.

Then Ivan started struggling, trying to break free from the line of condemned slaves and reaching the warehouse his sister was standing on. He even managed to knock out a guard despite his hands being tied behind his back, and started to run towards them.

He managed about twenty meters before one of the guards shot him down with a stunner, and he slammed onto the dirty tarmac like a dropped sack of grains.

Up on the roof, Lady Anita still chuckled with almost childlike glee.

“Wonderful,” she finally exclaimed with a little sigh, “Every time he tries to fight, and every time he fails. Just perfect. Such a shame this was the last time we will be seeing him.”

Silently, she watched some guards packing up Ivan from the ground and dragging him into the freighter. There was even a hint of nostalgia in her eyes as the freighter lifted off the ground, belching smoke, and took off in the general direction of Bora Bora.

“So that’s it, another book closed forever,” Lady Anita exclaimed purposefully once the freighter was gone for good. “Now, what’s next on my schedule...?”

Making a show of wondering what next to do, Lady Anita looked around until her gaze finally settled on the slave girl at her feet.

The slave girl at her feet looked at her with eyes wide with fear, her mouth working soundlessly.

“Oh, darling, don’t be afraid,” Anita said gently and started walking towards the staircase, effortlessly dragging the struggling girl behind her. “You were so well behaved today. I’ll give you a nice head-start. And if you survive, I might even give you a shield next time.”

Ivan is clearly a character to be reckoned with and he hasn't given up. I will be intrigued to find out how he makes it back to give the unpleasant Anita her just deserts. I wonder how many slave girls she gets through in a week?

Ivan is one tough bitch, true. He hasn't got a special place in our universe for nothing. You'll get to see where he ends up in this story.

As for the slave girls - actually much less than one might think, at least on average. She prefers those who are really afraid and cultures their fear, grooms them until they wet themselves when they hear her approaching the door to their kennel. Those she keeps for a very long time. Those who turn apathic or violent she discards like toothpicks. The one she's got now looks like a keeper to me.

How is it that my double personality can be all :D :D :D for a character like Anita, and all :S :S :S for Lady Jelena. I think I am so totally biased in favor of Robert...and isnt that a troublesome thought, that only if I am emotionally invested in a character I am angry at the other character who is mean to them? :S :S :S ;)

Yay the Windmines of Bora Bora, I was awaiting this story with a lot of Vorfreude! :D

How do the windmines work? I am really intrigued.

How in hell is he going to escape this fate? :S I am really impressed he has survived so long! O_oAnd Anita subscribes to the James Bond Evil Guy philosophy of not simply killing your opponent!!! >:D ;) :D

Well, Anita IS one cool evil bitch, so I don't see any cognitive dissonance there. Just wait until she really hurts someone we know, you'll get enough opportunity to hate her.

I only hope that my story can keep up with all these long-harbored expectations. Oh, and the next chapter will basically be a giant set piece introducing Bora Bora and the mines. I'd actually be surprised if you wanted MORE information after that. (WouldN't mind answering any questions left, though, I just don't think it's enough of an infodump already.)

Oh well, Anita will get to regret this decision many times over. Remember this particular comment when you read the last sentence of 'Bora Bora'. ^^

So Bitchface is back. I wonder just how long until she meets a bigger version of herself?Just to clarify, did Anita sell Ivan to another person or was he her slave for a time?Do we get to know who he belonged to before he ran away? Why the shaved head? Is he still wearing the shock collar? Is Anita a princess in her own right now?I know I know, so many questions. Hopefully you like questions, because answering them will only encourage more!

Actually I LOVE questions, so bring it on! Seriously, it's fun for me to talk about this universe, and I learn so much about what information I have forgotten in my stories.

Bigger version - hm... actually that will take a long time, 'cause she's going to go a lot of growing in the bitchface department in the stories to come.

Sales history - Ivan was sold to another Dracon as a pet, as their father had explicitly forbidden Anita to keep Ivan as her own. We won't meet his previous owner(s), but we will be seeing some flashbacks to that time.

shaved head - Ivan's currently sporting an undercut (had been wearing a topknot when he was still trying to be a runaway slave gang leader), so it's fashion, not punishment.

shock collar - He's wearing a collar, but not the shock collar Anita put on him. Slaves are required to wear a collar in public, or at least slaveguards, but the actual item is pretty much up to the personal taste of the owner.

princess - prince or princess is not a noble title per se, but rather a honorific for a noble in line to inherit a high-ranking title. Rule of thumb is that if the holder of the title is addressed with 'Your Highness', his heir(s) will be Princes(ses). So as #3 and #4 in line for the title of Duke of Yaiciz, both Ivan and Anita qualified, though none of them held any real title (yet). Actually, seeing this I think I'll have to add a paragraph dealing with titles to my 'Nobles of the Empire' fictional facts here: http://osirisbrackhaus.livejournal.com/17784.html

Thanks for asking, and if there are any more questions, hit me, I am looking very much forward!